College Enacting Labtop Policy (Topic)

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[I suppose I'm too close to power supply requirements and actual power supply ratings. It's practically impossible to use a kW of power without dual processors and graphics. To use more than 4 GB you have to be doing something pretty big. Anything that requires more than 4 GB you AREN'T going to want to be doing on a laptop.

Quote from

Corbo

@cecil, you have to decide yourself wether you're going to aim for a laptop that's going to take over all your work (somewhat) or one to just make minor stuff and then use a monster desktop to do all the intense work.
It'd help if you got more info on what the use is going to be, just the use you needen't tell anything else, according to the use you and us can have a better idea on what to go for.
When's your bday exactly? Or can you get it a while after you bday? Don't you guys get somewhat a "second black friday" after chrismas season and have good deals?

Yes, I emailed DigiPen asking for information on the miminum specs required (for if you want to pick your own), and information on the pre-configured laptops they recommend. They should be emailing me today.

My Bday is the 19th of Decemember. If I were to find a laptop that is a great deal, I could try to get it before then though. I could also wait a while till Christmas passes, if that's recommended I'll post up more info when I get a reply back from the college.

[Edit]How much of a difference in performance will there be between 2.2g and 2.53g clock speeds on dual core processors, and, will that difference in performance be worth 200$? My guess is no, especially if I am planning to use a desktop as well as a laptop. Still no email from DigiPen.

[Edit]Also, why should I stay away from Turion II CPU's?

Post has been edited 3 time(s), last time on Dec 2 2009, 6:53 pm by CecilSunkure.

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Turion II is good, I assume, due to it being on 45 nm tech. Turion is much like the old windsor/brisbane/agena stuff which wasn't that good even when it came out compared to comparative intel offerings.

If you're comparing a turion II with a similar turion II, then you can compare them by the clock speed. If you're comparing a core 2 duo with a turion II, you can't really compare solely on clock speed. You have to look at reviews. It seems that the $200 is a little more than just 300 MHz upgrade.

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Corbo

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ShredderIV

considering he may actually need to do some work on his laptop, he may want to get an uhh, waddyacallit? Ummm.... a USB mouse...

This.

You will also need a mouse. Don't get the small ones unless you have a small hand, otherwise you will suffer from great hand pains until you get used to or more like your hand stays in a claw-like form.

I love the small ones. ;o Don't hold it like a regular mouse... instead of holding my palm on it I hold it between my thumb in ring finger.

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Corbo

Quote from

ShredderIV

considering he may actually need to do some work on his laptop, he may want to get an uhh, waddyacallit? Ummm.... a USB mouse...

This.

You will also need a mouse. Don't get the small ones unless you have a small hand, otherwise you will suffer from great hand pains until you get used to or more like your hand stays in a claw-like form.

I love the small ones. ;o Don't hold it like a regular mouse... instead of holding my palm on it I hold it between my thumb in ring finger.

My email from DigiPen hasn't been responded to yet. I assume whoever got my email has to look for the information to answer it.

And yeah, I love my small mouse. I hold it with my thumb and pinky actually, my ring finger sits on the right-hand edge of the mouse, index on the left mouse button, middle finger on the mouse wheel. I right click with my ring finger, sometimes my middle.

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Quote from

CecilSunkure

And yeah, I love my small mouse. I hold it with my thumb and pinky actually, my ring finger sits on the right-hand edge of the mouse, index on the left mouse button, middle finger on the mouse wheel. I right click with my ring finger, sometimes my middle.

You either have very tiny hands or have a mouse larger than the one I had. 3 fingers width is wider than the mouse was itself. It was about 2 fingers wide. ;o

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EUDTrig - topic - Quickly and easily convert offsets to EUDs! (extended players supported)
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Quote from

CecilSunkure

I'm looking for something with a solid dual core

A good thing to have. Makes it so that if a single threaded process shits out on you, your computer is still very much usable.

Also makes you more likely to catch a race condition in your program.

I would aim for more cores if possible, but it's a laptop so I don't think you'll be able to do better than two.

Memory is not important, try not to get captured by "omg 8 gigs of RAM"
Graphics card is important, and is the main selling point of the lappy you linked to in the OP. Make sure it can run the games you want to run.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Dec 7 2009, 5:07 am by scwizard.

None.

Here is an email I just back from DigiPen regarding some information on their new laptop teaching model.

Quote

> Hi Cecil,
>
> Thank you for your patience. I'm still waiting for the program
> directors to get back to me for a more specific answer to your question
> as to why DigiPen is switching to a laptop model for 2010. The official
> specifications will be determined by January 1st for the laptop, and you
> won't need a personal desktop with any specifications. There will be
> plenty of PC units on campus in the labs.
>
> When more information comes up, I'll be sure to let you know. Also,
> when the specifications come out, all accepted students will be notified
> as soon as they are available.
>
> Also, congratulations on your acceptance! Unfortunately, I was out of
> the office (auto accident injury) for two weeks, but I am glad that the
> Admissions team was able to help you out. Once again, congratulations,
> and I will be sure to let you know as soon as any more information is
> available.
>
> All the best,
>
> <censored>

I'll know exactly what the laptop they have pre-configured to buy is like, and what their minimum specs are, at the latest of January 1st.

Here is how I responded to that email......

Collapsable Box

[Edit]I actually found another laptop, 100 dollars more (after mail in rebate), more HD space, and slower HD rpm's (longer battery life), as well as a better cpu with another mb of l2 cache and .33G faster of a cpu.

First one I found:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220635

Second one I found:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220667

I like the looks of the first one more than the second, especially when comparing the keyboard and touchpad. I also really like the slower speed of the HD RPM on the second one. I believe I would choose the second one here over the first one I found.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Dec 13 2009, 9:40 pm by CecilSunkure.

None.

Ah, my first link just dropped by 100$ with a mail-in rebate! Woo!

[Edit]Doing a small bit a research, I found that the comparitive CPU's, the T6600 and the P8700, are different in that the P is a 25w cpu while the T is a 35w cpu. The P also has 1 mb more of L2 cache, and faster FSB. It will out perform the T6600 on less power, conserving what was approximated to be about 10-15% battery life. The thing is between these two laptops, is the RPMs on the HDs, the more expensive laptop with the P8700 cpu has a 5400 RPM HD, while the cheaper has the more standard 7200 RPM. Lower RPMs = longer battery life, which is a very important factor in my decision making. The thing is, the cheaper laptop is now 200$ cheaper due to the mail in rebate, and I don't think spending the 200$ is going to be worth it on my second link.

I also found that the GPU on my first link, the cheaper laptop, contains an ATI 4670 GPU, not a 4650 as advertised

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Dec 25 2009, 6:58 pm by CecilSunkure.

None.

http://www.amazon.com/N81Vp-D2-14-Inch-Versatile-Entertainment-Windows/dp/B002PAQXCM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1261775768&sr=8-1
That one is cheaper and better than your second choice.

I am a Mathematician

Ok so, I've never bought a new computer before, and I have a question about bloatware.. I heard that the best way to rid yourself of bloatware on a new computer is to format your HD and reinstall your OS. If I were to do this, would I need to purchase a copy of say.. Windows 7 along with my computer (or laptop), or should it come with reinstall disks for the stock OS? What is recommended by the users here for dealing with bloatware?

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Quote from

CecilSunkure

Ok so, I've never bought a new computer before, and I have a question about bloatware.. I heard that the best way to rid yourself of bloatware on a new computer is to format your HD and reinstall your OS. If I were to do this, would I need to purchase a copy of say.. Windows 7 along with my computer (or laptop), or should it come with reinstall disks for the stock OS? What is recommended by the users here for dealing with bloatware?

I recommend formatting, and they should give you a disk along with a key. Make sure to get all your drivers on a USB stick beforehand.

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Bloatware, if it exists, is minimal in new computers. It's fairly easy to simply uninstall anything you don't want. Installing windows yourself is both a learning experience, and a customizing experience as well, so it's not that I don't recommend it, it just takes up a lot of time. You really do get to know your computer, however.

My Thinkpad (2005) came with a recovery partition, allowing me to restore factory defaults. It didn't come with a disc, though. If it doesn't come with a disc, you can pirate the OS, or somehow get the install disk, then use the key they give you.

Also, I recommend Common Sense 2010: Enterprise Edition for your anti-virus. There's some pretty steep minimum requirements, so you may want to stick avast on there just in case. My college gave away symantec for free, as well. Ideally, you should figure out what every single program does under the start menu, and under the add/remove programs menu. If you don't know what it does, find out, either by uninstalling/reinstalling or googling.

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Quote from

rockz

Bloatware, if it exists, is minimal in new computers. It's fairly easy to simply uninstall anything you don't want. Installing windows yourself is both a learning experience, and a customizing experience as well, so it's not that I don't recommend it, it just takes up a lot of time. You really do get to know your computer, however.

Yep, definitely.

Quote from

rockz

My Thinkpad (2005) came with a recovery partition, allowing me to restore factory defaults. It didn't come with a disc, though. If it doesn't come with a disc, you can pirate the OS, or somehow get the install disk, then use the key they give you.

Technically this is not even pirating because you pay for the license (=key) and not for the disc or the data on it.

Quote from

rockz

Ideally, you should figure out what every single program does under the start menu, and under the add/remove programs menu. If you don't know what it does, find out, either by uninstalling/reinstalling or googling.

Or just by starting -duh. But yes. find out. There's nothing worse than being at the mercy of your own pc because it does things and you have no idea what's going on. Never let the machine control you. This may sound funny or exaggerated but I have seen it happen more often than you'd think.

Ah, so I finally have the information I requested! Woot. Here are some recommendations. I, however, could spend 850$ on a laptop this powerful, instead of 1200-1500$. If I were to spend that much money, it would be on a core i7

EMAIL

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ALL PRAISE YOUR SUPREME LORD CORBO

Seems like a fair choice.

As you can see it's a decent laptop and you do not require some OH GAWD lots ammount of RAM and processing, it's just an average and you can get to keep a few money so you can save up for a GOOD desktop.

In the time you weren't posting I've been updating myself with new graphics technology

You want a "qualified hardware-accelerated OpenGL� graphics card", the ones digipen is asking you already are qualified.
You want that so you can use this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm8bAg4DVy8
and this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAkQRtnmk0c
Though, those aren't exactly modeling programs but sculpting. 3ds max and maya will work just fine at 2GB 2.0GHz even on crappy intel chipset video card

. Vector and image editors will work perfectly.

Also, you might want a wacom tablet too.

fuck you all

Hey, thanks for the awesome advice Corbo!

None.